ISLAMABAD: Strongly condemning the desecration of Holy Quran in Norway, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday directed Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to raise the incident of Holy Quran’s desecration in Norway with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The decision to raise the issue with the OIC came during a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) core committee in Islamabad.
Condemning the incident, the prime minister directed the foreign minister to immediately contact the OIC and inform it of the country’s reservations in this regard.
Prime Minister Khan maintained such provocative activities against Islam are not acceptable at all.
Besides, he directed PTI legal wizard Babar Awan to highlight legal aspects of the foreign funding case against the party in order to offset the opposition’s propaganda over the issue.
It was decided that Awan will hold a press conference to shed light on constitutional as well as legal aspects of the case.
Earlier, on Nov 23, the Ambassador of Norway was called to the Foreign office to convey the deep concern of the government and people of Pakistan over the incident of desecration of the Holy Quran in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand.
It was underscored that such actions hurt the sentiments of 1.3 billion Muslims around the world, including those in Pakistan. Furthermore, such actions could not be justified in the name of freedom of expression.
The Norwegian authorities were urged to bring those responsible to justice and to prevent the recurrence of any such incident in the future.
PM also met CM Punjab Usman Buzdar after the meeting. Sources said PM has decided to bring administrative changes in Punjab.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday the incumbent government is going to introduce a local government system that will empower people at the gross-root level.
In a message on social media, the prime minister said the county has been put on the right path.
Meanwhile, the first of its kind Clean Green Pakistan Index to start healthy cleanliness competition across the country is being launched in Islamabad tomorrow.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam in a social media message said that Prime Minister will launch the Clean Green Pakistan Index to start competition among the 19 cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The index will be based on five themes of public access including clean drinking water, safe sanitation, effective solid waste management and tree plantation.
The top key political and non-political representatives of provincial governments, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, federal and provincial ministers, senior federal and provincial government officials, ambassadors of various countries, teachers, students and senior representatives of local and international non-governmental organisations will attend the grand ceremony of the CGPI launch.
Aslam said that the barometer called the Clean Green Pakistan Index (CGPI) aimed to improve overall green and clean outlooks of the Pakistani cities by kicking off competition among them on various indicators, including sustainable public access to clean drinking water, safe sanitation, effective solid waste management and tree plantation.
At the grand launching ceremony, the prime minister would also announce the start of the first phase of six-month competition among 19 cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces would made by the prime minister, Aslam added.
He said that the country’s socio-economic, health and environmental damages to the tune of around Rs700 billion rupees annually because of environmental degradation, deforestation, poor access to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation and lack of solid waste management and wastewater treatment facilities.
“Tackling these challenges by initiating competition among Pakistani cities, which are witnessing the growing exodus from rural areas, to improve green and clean outlooks is the pivotal objective of the CGPI rolled out in consultation with relevant government and non-governmental and international stakeholders,” he told media.
he prime minister’s adviser emphasised that the CGPI has been rolled out by the ministry under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political manifesto of clean and green Pakistan and environmental conservation and sustainability.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said the PTI has decided to effectively counter the fake propaganda against the ruling party over foreign funding case in the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the meeting of the committee which discussed various issues and took important decisions.
Briefing media about the decisions, in Islamabad on Sunday, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said PTI’s legal team has been asked to effectively present party’s point of view in the ECP and the media to end disinformation and fake news.
She said the ECP should conduct audit of all political forces instead of targeting a particular party.
Awan said core committee has decided to raise recent incident of desecration of the Holy Quran in Norway at the European Union and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. She said the committee not only condemned the incident of desecration of Holy Quran but also reiterated Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stance that the narrative of Islamophobia is disastrous for the international peace. It hurts sentiments of billions of Muslims living across the world, and provides oxygen to extremist ideology.
Firdous Ashiq Awan said the government will present a resolution at both EU and OIC levels to discourage matters, which negatively affect Muslims emotions and sentiments.
Regarding economic situation in the country, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the committee unanimously commended efforts of the Prime Minister and his economic team for successfully handling economic challenges like current account deficit, trade deficit, and circular debt.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said an effective and comprehensive strategy should be evolved with the cooperation of the provincial governments to overcome inflation and unemployment in the country and to transfer dividends of improved economic indicators to the people.
Firdous Ashiq Awan informed that the committee also presented various proposals regarding industrialization, ease of doing business, and revamping economy of the country. She said short and long term economic policies also came under discussion during the meeting.
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the committee also decided to apprise the people about mega projects completed by the PTI Government.She said the party has authorized Prime Minister Imran Khan to implement his strategies to ensure good governance in the country.
She said Imran Khan has directed to complete restructuring of the party on emergency basis to strengthen local bodies system and this process should be finalized before local governments elections. – NNI